


Songs from the Past

by DoodleBumpers



Series: Recollections [1]
Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Backstory, M/M, Mentions of Sex, No actual explicit content, Not Beta Read, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:20:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22827820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoodleBumpers/pseuds/DoodleBumpers
Summary: A song Aina has been listening to catches the two former generals of Mad Burnish's attentions. It throws them back to when they met.
Relationships: Gueira/Meis (Promare)
Series: Recollections [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1651969
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	Songs from the Past

Meis looked up from his literature, realizing he hadn’t absorbed the last few pages. The clock read 5am. Meis shut his book, not bothering to mark his page as the tension in his spine took higher priority. He stretched to two soft pops from his back, after which he lay limp on the couch, bored above anything else.

Graveyard shifts sucked, but unlike most of the others at squad 3, Meis didn’t mind them. He was used to overnight watch shifts back when he was one of the leaders of Mad Burnish which were much more brutal compared to the mere 8 hour shifts at Burning Rescue. He rather enjoyed the quiet time to spend reflecting on whatever thought caught his whim. The only real downside to these shifts were the grueling boredom. Very rarely they had a call during graveyard hours, and with only two of them at the station, with both of them tired, there was rarely any company. Meis hadn’t taken to many past time activities such as video games much like Lio and Gueira had.

Gueira.

A smile graced Meis’ lips. In an hour his relief would arrive signaling the end of his shift. Gueira and Varis would be taking over for the morning shift. If the two couldn’t land the same shifts together, this was the orientation they preferred as it left the afternoon and evening open for them to raise hell together. Occasionally the captain or his trusted sidekick Remi would come in with the morning shift to take care of administrative tasks. Speaking of which.

Meis rose to his feet and walked over to the lone bed sitting in the middle of the main hall where Aina lay. Headphones on and having long since dozed off. Though he knew she shouldn’t be sleeping, Meis didn’t mind. Aina wasn’t particularly the type to be able to handle overnight shifts, however her inability to say no and her tendency to want to do her best landed her the graveyard shifts with him.

“What’cha listening to?” Meis tapped Aina’s arm, not wanting to call her out on her inability to fight sleep.

“Huh!” Aina jumped slightly and blinked in an attempt to shake her sleep away quickly, “Oh just some alt rock, it’s rather embarrassing.”

Meis smiled and sat down at the edge of the bed, “I listen to songs from shows and anime that I don’t know the lyrics to,” he admitted as he crossed his arms, “There’s no judgement, c’mon show me.”

Aina pouted playfully but unplugged the headphones from her phone to let her phone speaker play the music.

Meis’ expression dropped.

“Hey that sounds like Meis’ song!” came a familiar voice from by the front gates.

Aina turned off the song in lieu of the new presence at the station.

Meis made a quick look towards the clock before greeting the redhead that approached them.

“Your shift doesn’t start for another 45 minutes, what’re you doing here so early?” Meis said, still a little frazzled.

“I wanted to hang out with my partner for a little while before he goes home. Is that such a sin?” Gueira huffed and tapped a cup of coffee against Meis’ face. “Plus I brought you both coffee.”

Aina took her cup with a quick thank you. Unlike Meis, she actually did morning activities.

“You know I’m going straight to bed after I get off work,” Meis said handing the coffee back to Gueira. “You on the other hand, you didn’t play video games all night again did you?”

Gueira avoided Meis’ gaze and changed the subject. “Was that your old music I was hearing just now?”

Meis shoulders stiffened.

“I was just playing Meis the songs I have on my phone. I couldn’t find the name of the band but I really like their music,” Aina explained.

“Well, play it again!” Gueria exclaimed.

“No, you definitely don’t have to,” Meis put on a false concern for Aina’s previous bashfulness towards her music choices as he aimed a kick towards Gueira’s shin.

Gueira dodged the blow and plopped onto the bedside, jostling both Meis and Aina a little as he leaned over closer to the device in Aina’s hand to hear better despite the weak speakers.

Aina unpaused the song and it didn’t take long for Gueira to sit up with a wide grin on his face.

“Hey I didn’t know they still had digital copies of these!” he said excitedly, “Aina you have to send me these.”

Aina looked to Meis, “Were you in this band Meis?” she asked.

Meis opened his mouth to answer, only to find him interrupted, “Yeah, the best one! It’s how we met!”

The dark haired man frowned, tired of being spoken for. “Yeah, he was a groupie.”

Gueira whipped his head around to face Meis, face flush with colour. “You mean the band’s drummer,” he corrected.

“Who started as the band’s groupie,” Meis said firmly.

“I was a big fan!” Gueira argued.

“You followed us across 6 different states to attend 8 of our concerts when we went on tour, all with the aim of slee-”

“Wah! Don’t finish that sentence!” Gueira flailed his arms about, his hands landing on Meis’ face in an attempt to silence him.

“Wait! I want to hear the rest of this!” Aina sat up, “Last I asked how you guys met Meis told me that you were a demon summoned by accident when he sang Japanese lyrics wrong to a song. Considering your reaction, this sounds like the real story.”

Meis made a face at Gueira with his eyes, prompting Gueira to release his mouth.

“The lady wants to know,” Meis shrugged with a smirk, “and it is a pretty good story.”

Frustration was made apparent by the rolling noise from the back of Gueira’s throat.

“Fine, but keep it PG,” Gueira said as he took a sip from the coffee Meis rejected.

***

Meis stood behind the venue, peering down at his watch as he took another puff of his cigarette. Two hours until the show begins. Meis had long since finished his sound test. The rest of the band however were still setting up. Despite being a small show, the rest of the members were pretty riled up.

Taking the last drag of his cigarette, Meis debated pulling out another as he was joined by another body standing against the same brick wall as him.

The bassist didn’t have to even turn his head to see the outrageous red hair. Without seeing the man’s face, he knew who it was.

“Have you got a lighter?” the man asked.

Meis pulled out the pack of cigarettes and lighter from his chest pocket, passing the lighter to the other man. It was the least he could do.

Realizing the lightness of the box remaining in his hand, Meis sighed disappointedly as he crushed the empty box of cigarettes. Disappointment was quickly swapped with concern. He’d bought the box today. He’d gone through the whole thing and the night was still young.

“Need to bum a cigarette?” the man offered as he passed back the lighter.

“I really shouldn’t,” Meis stomped out the bud of his last cancer stick. “Keep it, more incentive for me to lay off the smokes for a while.”

Meis finally tilted his head to look over at the redhead through his over hanging hair. He had an unreadable expression, blinking once and twice before shoving the cheap lighter in his leather pant pocket.

“Concert got you stressed?” the stranger inquired.

“Not the concert. Just the organization,” Meis answered, taking in a long breath of the crisp cold air.

“Wouldn’t the agent be taking care of that stuff?” the man shifted his stance nervously.

“Agent walked out two concerts ago. Apparently the lot of us are insufferable,” Meis reached up to hook his hair behind his ear so the other man would now be able to see his expression, “Stress isn’t too obvious in the show I hope.”

The stranger choked on his smoke, coughing a few times as he regained his composure.

“Is this your third show now?” Meis said with a light smile on his face, giving the other man time to recover.

“Uh.. fourth,” the redhead answered, “I didn’t think you’d take notice.”

“You’re kind of hard to miss in a crowd,” Meis gestured at the other man’s bright red hair, “Also helps that you’re always front row.”

The other man let out a nervous laugh, “Yeah you got me. My name’s Gueira, I’m a big fan of your’s…. if that wasn’t obvious already,” the redhead offered a handshake.

The bassist considered it for a half second before taking the man’s hand. “Meis. But you already knew that.”

Gueira smiled brightly, Meis could’ve sworn he heard the thump of a wagging tail.

“I thought you’d be a fan of the vocalist,” Meis said, leaning back against the wall after retracting his hand to keep warm in his pockets, “Rare to see a person be a fan of the bass player.”

A look of confusion crossed Gueira’s face, “The main vocalist is great, but you sing too.”

Meis looked down, “Right. Sorry to disappoint you but we’re not playing any of my songs on this tour.”

The frown was audible in Gueira’s voice, “What? I was hoping I’d be able to hear you sing live in at least one of these shows,” Meis heard the man let out a huff as he stomped out his ignored cigarette, “The main vocalist is great and all but I think you’re better if not the best.”

Meis felt blood rush to his face, “You flatter me.”

“It’s true,” Gueira’s tone went uncharacteristically serious in comparison to the rest of the conversation, “Your songs saved my life.”

The bassist didn’t know how to respond.

“Ah, sorry for getting all depressing on you,” Gueira retracted, returning to his playful tone, “Your songs really struck a chord with me during my lowest days.”

Meis shook his head, “Not at all,” he thought back to the days that inspired his music, “writing those songs saved my life too.”

There was a drawn out silence.

“Hey, wanna come see backstage? I can introduce you to the rest of the band,” Meis offered as the cold began to bother him.

“Hell yeah I would!” Gueira jumped upright enthusiastically.

Meis couldn’t help but smile, “Let’s just hope they’re not all fighting in there.”

They were.

***

“After the show that day we-” Meis found himself cut off once more by Gueira’s yelling and a hand slapped over his face. Gueira obviously aimed for his mouth but missed.

“I said keep it PG!” Gueira’s face was beet red.

“Yeah I don’t want to hear that part either,” Aina chimed in.

Meis rolled his eyes as he pulled Gueira’s hand off his face by grabbing his wrist.

“You guys are no fun, but fine.”

***

“Fuck this, I’m out of here!” the drummer of the band stomped out of the concert hall.

“Shit,” the keytarist cursed, “Think he’ll come back this time?”

Meis rubbed his temples, trying to will his headache away. “You and his girlfriend have been fucking in the same hotel room as him for this entire tour. He’s not coming back.”

“Uh, everything ok?” Gueira came into the concert hall, having just walked past the furious drummer. The man practically had VIP status at their shows at this point, and the band was getting used to seeing him before the show.

“We’re down a drummer,” Meis filled in the redhead, “This entire band is a dumpster fire. We don’t have the money to refund everyone either.”

Gueira was scratching at his cheek as he observed the band pull at their hairs.

“I play the drums,” he offered.

The guitarist/vocalist scoffed, “Yeah let’s have the groupie join the band just like that.”

Meis tapped his lips in thought, “We don’t really have any better options.”

The bassist approached the drum set. The set of course belonged to the drummer who walked out, however, the man wasn’t coming back for it as long as specific band members were still present. He picked up the pair of sticks and waved Gueira over.

“Let’s see what you got,” Meis said, handing Gueira the sticks and gesturing towards the seat.

Gueira sat down with a nod and took a minute to familiarize himself with the foreign set up. After adjusting the heights of some of the symbols, he played a quick test beat.

Satisfied with the adjustments, the new drummer looked up at the bassist.

“You gonna give me a song to play to?” Gueira smiled mischievously.

Meis looked to the rest of the band.

“Alright, let’s play our header song then,” the vocalist spoke up, picking up her guitar.

“No, Meis knows what I’m talking about,” Gueira’s smile grew wider.

Meis shook his head, “I told you that song’s not on this tour.”

“C’mon, when else am I gonna hear you sing it live?” Gueira’s shoulders slumped with a puppy dog pout.

“I don’t see the harm. It’s just to test out the new drummer,” the keytarist shrugged.

“I thought you all hated that song,” Meis scowled.

“We don’t hate it, we just don’t think it’s too marketable,” the vocalist chimed in.

“Wow, thanks, that’s so much better,” the bassist picked up his instrument, “If everyone’s fine with it, then let’s do it.”

“Yes,” Gueira’s whispered cheer hung in the air as a hiss as Meis plugged in his instrument to the amp.

***

“That was the song you were listening to,” Meis stole a sip of Gueira’s coffee, his throat dry from talking.

“I don’t get it, it’s a great song, why are you so embarrassed about it?” Aina inquired.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud of the song,” Meis tilted his head down, allowing his hair to hide the red that lightly graced his face, “It just makes me think of where I was when I wrote it. Like reading an old diary.”

“Hearing him sing it in person for the first time was amazing. It was like love at first sight,” Gueira grinned and at shoved Meis with his shoulder.

“No, you were definitely in love with me before that,” Meis smiled, jabbing back at the man.

“So Gueira became the band’s new drummer and the tour went on?” Aina leaned forward, invested in the story.

“Oh god no. Well Gueira did become the new drummer, but after his second show, the band fell apart. We went bankrupt and just before Gueira and I separated to fly back to our own homes, complications happened and we ended up staying together,” Meis dismissed the rest of the story, eager to get home and sleep.

“Wow, I’m sorry the traumatic awakening of my burnish mutation was a complication for you,” Gueira rolled his eyes.

“Hey, I stayed with you right?” Meis chuckled as he snaked his arms around the other man’s waist in a hug, pulling him closer.

“You guys are so cute when you’re being nostalgic,” Aina commented, smiling at the cute gestures between them.

“Huh? Oh he only gets like this in front of others when he’s tired,” Gueira pointed at Meis. The man’s eye bags were apparent despite his makeup.

Meis looked at the clock. 17 minutes past 6. He groaned and got up, reluctantly releasing his partner.

“Screw it, I’m just going to sleep in the bunker,” Meis yawned as he got up, “Come get me when you get off work Gueira.”

“Will do babe, sleep well,” Gueira waved Meis off.

Aina stretched from her position on the bed, “Well since Meis let me take a quick nap, I guess I can keep you company till Varys gets here.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that,” Gueira adjusted in his seat to kick his feet up, “Morning shifts are boring since Meis has all the things I should be doing done for me.”

“So you guys stayed together because Meis didn’t want you to face the prejudice as a burnish alone?” Aina placed her chin in her hands, clearly enjoying the romanticism of the story’s ending.

“Huh? Oh no. He stayed with me because a secret government organization started a new program to see if subjecting a non-burnish to a burnish person would also turn them into a burnish. Meis just happened to be around me when I was collected for the program so he was roped into it,” Gueira answered as-a-matter-of-factly.

Aina’s eyes narrowed. “Usually I can tell you guys are pulling my leg but maybe it’s because this followed a real story…. I can’t tell if you’re shitting me or not.”

“Oh and I was attracted to Meis in the first place because that’s what the demon contract says.”

“I’m leaving.”

“Ok! I’m sorry! You said you’ll keep me company till Varys gets here!” Gueira laughed, “Where is that guy anyway, not like him to be this late.”

Gueira’s laugh was loud enough to be heard from the bunker. The warm feeling of nostalgia still lingering in his chest. Even then when they were near strangers, Gueira had made a very bad situation better. The man had a magical ability to improve anything in Meis’ life with his mere presence.

Meis touched the black ink on his arm, thinking back to the time when they had sworn to each other they would stick together no matter what the world threw at them. It had been the first time Meis had been able to directly offer the same sense of security Gueira gave him all the time. Back before Meis had become burnish, and when the world was after Gueira for a mutation that wasn’t his fault.

Never in his life had Meis thought he’d be able to achieve the happiness he has now until that day when Gueira had asked him for a lighter.

With a deep sigh, Meis closed his eyes, sinking into the uncomfortable bunker mattress, lulled to sleep by the sound of Gueira causing a ruckus back in the main hall.

**Author's Note:**

> Not typically how I write. There are some holes I want to fill in like why the song saved Gueira and Meis, and  
> what happened to keep the two together after the band fell apart. Alas, this looked like a good place to end this.


End file.
